Six Feet Under
by obliterating the oblivion
Summary: Many years ago bombs rained down on the Earth leaving death and destruction in its wake. So the chosen few decided that the only possible chance at saving their own species was to go into hiding deep within the Earth, to one day reach the surface again. But will everyone make it to see the sun again, will they live to witness the reality of this new Earth. Clace Sizzy
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I own nothing!_

Prologue:

~ The year 2528 ~

My name is Clarissa Morgenstern, daughter of Valentine and Jocelyn Morgenstern.

One hundred years. One hundred years since human kind has had the sun grace them with her presence. One hundred years since the population has run free of the constricting ropes of Earth, well at least what's left of the population anyway. One hundred and ten years ago to this day all hell broke loose on the surface of our once great planet. War broke out between each and every country, leaving behind in its wake disease, famine and total destruction. Human kind had managed to almost destroy everything they had ever known, including themselves. But a lucky few had survived the nuclear bombs that rained down from the yellowing midnight sky. But although the bombs stopped coming down, in its haste death and destruction followed. Plagues much like the Black Death hundreds of years before threatened to kill all remaining life on Earth. So the chosen few decided that the only possible chance at saving their own endangered species, was to go into hiding deep within the Earth.

They set up an official government and elected a chairman every few years. Of course this worked for a while, but the time soon came for them to consider the future for the world that they had not hesitated to destroy and for the inhabitants living on it. The food and water supplies they brought with them ran out, the adults of the group started age, oxygen levels ran low and the already low population started to decrease. New laws were passed in order to make the population rise and to better suit the situation. Adults had to marry and produce children by a certain age; each person was given a certain quantity of food and water per day and were charged if they went over it and oxygen was cleaned and filtered through pipes from the Earth's surface, sacrificing five lives in the process. Slowly but surely the human race started to rebuild itself again, creating a completely self-efficient life underground. But as always humans have an undeniable draw to power and are driven to terrifying lengths in order to achieve that power. And as there are those in the world who are kind and gentle, there are those who are cruel and unjust because the world is based on a theory of balance. Everything reaction has an equal or opposite reaction, for every death there is life, for every hill there is a slope, for every man there is a women and for every crime there is a punishment.

Well at least this is what I believe. When I was young I thought what every other hopeless individual thought, and that was what the government etched into the brains of each person born down here, that we were a dying species and in order to preserve a dying world we must abide by the laws of our Nation. Now you may ask what this Nation is that I speak of, well let's just say it's less of a Nation and more of an extended community. When humans first arrived down here there were only around two hundred and fifty of them, but now two hundred and ten years later the population reaches almost thirty thousand. You see, everyone down here believes what they want to hear, not what the reality of the situation is. They _say _that one day in the near future we will adventure back onto the surface of the Earth, but in reality they have no clue.

When the government was first set up it was a democracy, citizens voted every two years for a leader called the Predestine or his full title of the maker of the foreseeable future. But one Predestine got greedy, he didn't want to just make decisions he wanted ultimate control of every living thing, and so he set about just that. The once democratic Nation was now a totalitarian state ruled by a tyrant. And that Tyrant just so happened to be my father.

I was born in 2512 and am the youngest child of my family. I have two older brothers Jonathon and Sebastian, both destined to be 'bold and fierce young leaders' as my father constantly reminds us. But to my father I am merely a means to a growing Nation, simply a child baring machine designed to do one thing and one thing only, have children. Although you can't say being the daughter of the most powerful man alive doesn't have its advantages. I have never once been given a punishment at school although I have lost count of how many times I have broken the rules. I am given a wide berth in the streets as if they are all too afraid to even graze past me, which I suppose they have reason to be. But with Advantages there are drawbacks for example I have next to no human contact at home or at school apart from my best friends - Simon and Izzy - and my brothers.

When I was fourteen years old I saw a man shot down by a white soldier on the streets of Mituga, which was a slightly less developed section of our Nation, those born there usually died later than others due to poor sanitation and dirty water. I had no idea what the man had done, whether it was steal, injure, threatened or perhaps he just talked back to the soldier standing over his now crippled body. But whatever it was it was rewarded with death? Was it really in anyone's right to decide what action deserved a punishment so severe? I thought it was remarkable how a simple object could have the power over life and death. How one simple choice could change the lives of thousands? And once you pull that trigger there is no going back, no way to reverse time or take back what you've done, no matter what you do in the future to make up for it. You can tell yourself that the decision was justified, that you were only following orders, that it was you or him, but their blood will always be on your hands, and where is the justice in that. I don't know if this soldier was following orders, but somehow I doubt it.

I asked my father later on the day, of what he thought about the deaths of his citizens, and why the white soldier had done that. He brushed off my comment because apparently I 'ask too many questions for my own good'. That's when I realised that my father, the Predestine, the ruler of our Nation, did not care. He didn't care that the death of this man would go unnoticed, he didn't care who lived or died, he cared about himself and the power he holds. And that's when everything became clearer, I no longer believed everything the government said and I stopped playing by their rules. I was no longer loyal to the Nation, I was loyal to myself. I placed my trust in those I knew deserved it, if my father wanted my honesty and trust he would have to earn it.

But then just when I thought I was starting to figure out the world I was living in, everything changed.

_Thankyou for reading, please let me know what you think _:)


	2. Chapter 2

I own nothing! :)

Chapter One: Friend of Foe

_Your skin like dawn_

_Mine like dusk._

_One paints the beginning_

_of a certain end._

_The other, the end of a_

_sure beginning._

_-Passing Time – Maya Angelou_

~ The Year 2529 ~

Have you ever come to the realisation that your whole life was a lie, that everything you believed in was just a ruse , that all you had ever been feed was lies and false accusations. When Clary was fourteen she came to a similar conclusion, but now three years later the enormity of the situation has finally come into perspective, she never realised quite how much the world she had learned to navigate for the last seventeen years was in actual fact, not her world at all.

~ The Year 1528 ~

There were five major schools located in the whole Nation, two of which were in Pearle Town which was the region in which mainly the rich and privileged lived. Athletics was taught rigorously at School 01110000 and was an obligatory subject to take for your A.A.R.D.E levels, along with life skills, pre-med, chemistry and self-defence. These obligatory subjects varied throughout the five schools, each aiming to thrive in different areas.

Clary hated chemistry, almost as much as she hated the fact that she was only five feet tall when both her brothers were six, almost as much as she hated that she has bright red hair when her brothers were blonde. All she wanted was to go out on the school playing fields and run, or to go to the art room and finish her painting she had been working on for some time now. But no, she was sitting in a stuffy science lab next to the biggest bimbo loving nut job she ever had the misfortune to meet. The only problem, he was hot. Now when she says hot she means like ultra-hot, like scorching hot, like melt your face off hot. But when he opened that beautifully shaped mouth of his, it was like all that hotness just got put out. This was unusual behaviour though, as people generally avoided getting even remotely close to her, not that she minded, she didn't want any more friends. But she didn't necessarily want any enemies either. But this guy was pushing his luck, if he wasn't careful he was going to get a punch in his pretty little face. That would put a hole in his oversized ego; Clary smiled just thinking about it. The satisfying crunch of his nose under her fist, the crimson blood flowing down his face, spilling onto his uniform white shirt.

Clary was woken out of her day dream by a paper ball hitting her face from across the class room. She looked up and saw Simon grinning from his seat before he put his head back down pretending do work, his glasses slightly askew on his face. He was going to get in trouble if Hodge saw him wasting paper like that. She opened the scrunched up sheet and flattened it out as well as she could, discreetly shielding it from blondie's prying eyes. _What up with Goldilocks today? _She smiled slightly before scribbling a reply and throwing it back when Hodge's back was turned, _No idea, guess Kaelie isn't putting out. Either that or he's got a death wish. Preferably the latter. _She continued staring off into space for a few minutes until the bell went indicating it was lunch time. As she walked out into the corridor a hand grabbed her wrist and dragged her into a secluding classroom. Clary's immediate reaction was to bring her hands up in defence and punch them in the throat, but she thought better of it when she saw who it was. Her intruder put both his hand on either side of her head effectively caging her in. She stared into the swirling golden eyes of her captor becoming amazed at the unique and astonishing colour, her hands itching to paint them. But once again he had to ruin it.

"So what do you say, you, me the janitor's closet?" He smirked down at her, his grin widening impossibly wider as her eyes widened, before screwing up her eyes and giving him her best death glare.

"In your dreams blondie" she replied with an eye roll.

"Oh my apologies, I don't think we have officially meant." He removed one his hands from the wall and held it out for her to shake, "Jace Herondale, at your service".

She merely looked at his hand with what could only be described as complete and utter disgust and he had to admit that did hurt his ego slightly, no girl had ever declined him. But she wasn't any girl.

She looked back up at his face in disbelief, "I am not touching that". She then swiftly ducked under his arm and headed towards the door, but not before turning her head over her shoulder staring at him from under her eyelashes, her mouth pulled up in a half grin, "Clary, Clary Morgenstern".

My appologies for the short chapter, the next one will be longer. Please give me a review if you have any ideas, I would love to hear them or just if you want to let me know what you think.

P.S. The number of the school may be a little more imprtant than you think, if any one wants to know I will give them a clue.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey, just wanted to say thank you for all of you who reviewed, it means a lot to me and I would really love for all of you to give your opinions. **

**To okayitswayland: in answer to your question yes they will go up to earth and be all badass and shit. But the plot will be quite different to the 100. I don't know how the 100 ends as I haven't read the book but I am pretty sure it will be different to how this story will end. I do watch the 100 and love it, although my favourite character is Bellamy.**

Disclaimer: I own nothing

_My story will be a short one, I know that much_

_But I will not waste those few precious moments,_

_I will walk every step, run every mile and welcome every fall._

_Because you can survive for a lifetime but you cannot live for it all. ~C.D~_

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful for Clary, Jace didn't bother her again and she managed to kick Izzy's arse yet again in self-defence class. Her school was separated in to four houses and each house specialized in different skills, there were krijgers who focused on self-defence and marcial arts, the lopers who trained in all kinds of athletics, the kundis who pursued mainly the academics like chemistry and pre-med and finally the stetsels who practiced logistics and life-skills. Each house had different classes dividing and ranking them from sets one to five, one being the best and fove being the worse. Clary was placed in top sets for all her classes and was in the Krigers along with Izzy and Jon. Simon was of course in the Kundis house as he was a complete nerd and got out of breath just from walking to his locker. Seb was in the Lopers along with Jace, but both still had some classes with Clary as she was pretty good at most subjects and so was put in the top sets. As she was waiting outside the school gates for her brothers, she squinted at the large banner adorning the school entrance, advertising the upcoming interschools competition.

It was the same competition that was held every four years in our glorious Nation, each of the five schools nomenated ten students from ages sixteen to eighteen. This year was the first year Clary would be competing, well if she got chosen that is. Neither her nor any of her brothers had ever been picked considering the last time it was carried out was four years ago. She secretly hoped and prayed every night that she would be nominated, not just to go down in history as the winner of the 100th competition anniversary, but primarily to prove her father wrong. To prove that she wasn't just Valentine's daughter. She was Clary and she didn't belong to along but herself. As cheasy as that sounded it was the moto she had lived by for the majority of her life.

She knew for a fact that both her brothers would be picked, and if she could beat them then her father would have no choice but to see her as an equal. But the Competition didn't just rely on your physical attributes, no that would be way to easy. It combined the strength of mind with the strength of body. You had to master every single fibre of your being and intune it with yourself. Mind over matter. Matter over mind. They both applied in this situation. The Competition was commonly know all around the glorious Nation as THE EARTH TRIALS and was watched by almost every civilian. It promoted the idea that everyone was equal and each individual had the opportunity to achieve greatness no matter their race, colour, class or heritage. It was about the only example equality left in this hopeless excuse of a species. She finally saw the two blonde heads of her brother's come bounding out of the school entrance, surrounded by a dozen or so of their entourage. Where Clary carefully accepted the friendship of a selected few, her brothers would talk to just about anybody. This meant that they were friends with at least half the school, to her annoyance. Both her brothers had got the best of their parent's features, high prominent cheekbones, long lashes and a thick layer of muscle covered their six foot bodies. But where Jon and Clary both had bright vibrant green eyes, Seb had dark brown ones. So dark that you struggled to know where the iris started and the pupil stopped, it could be eerily scary at times. Jon came up to her and threw his left arm over her shoulder whilst leaning his right on Sebastien's. He smiled down at her, that smile she loved that he reserved for her alone. She would never say it allowed but Jon was her favourite member of her family. He was her dad when her father couldn't be bothered to be one, he was her mum when her own was to 'busy', he was her best friend when she had none; he was her shoulder to cry one when no one else offered. He was her all and her everything. Seb tried, but they had never been as close, she always thought there was something mysterious about him, like he had a huge weight on his shoulders that none of them knew about. It hadn't always been like this between the two of them, when they were younger the three of them used to be completely inseparable. Clary longed for those days again, when everything was seen through the eyes of an innocent child, when everything was so simple and easy, when her family wasn't the mess it is now, when her father was just her dad and not the ruler of a country.

She glanced at Seb as they walked down the familiar alleyways leading them to their home. No one had any cars around here as there was little petrol left at their disposal, some lucky few had small electrical mopeds but the remainder had to walk everywhere. Sebastien had a frown upon his face, an expression that would soon become permanently etched into his skin if he kept doing it.

"So anything knew happen with you today" Jon asked casually, the same question he asked every day to which Clary would usually answer with a shrug. She found talking about personal things with Sebastien here kind of awkward.

"Not much" she saw Seb glance at her out of the corner of her eye and his frown lessoned slightly, it wasn't much but it was a start.

"Really nothing new in the world of Clary?" he gave her a small smile or encouragement so she decided that if he was going to make an effort so would she.

"Well Jace decided to corner me in the corridor before lunch, but other than that, not really." As soon as the words came out of her mouth she regretted them at the look her brothers gave her. She had never shown any interest in the opposite sex, so this was a first and she had no idea how they would react. Seb looked at her with a surprised expression whereas Jon was staring at her with a fierce protectiveness.

"Now when you say cornered, what exactly do you mean?" Jon squinted his eyes at her. She had always been a terrible liar and knew he would know if she wasn't telling the truth.

"I, err, well" she gulped, "he pulled me into a class room to try and talk to me" she said in one breath.

"And what exactly did he want to talk to you about?" Sebastien asked with raised eyebrows. Jace was his friend so if he was questioning her it couldn't be good.

"Just stuff", both of them stopped and looked at her with their arms crossed, one eyebrow raised waiting for her to continue, their positions identical. They could have been identical twins if it wasn't for their different eyes. The scene would have been almost funny if it wasn't for the situation she was in.

"Well he may have said something about a Janitor's closet" both their eyes widened dramatically and she quickly recovered herself, "but he just wanted to know if there were supplies stored there" she internally cringed at the bluntness of her lie, and as she looked up at her two brothers she saw that they obviously didn't believe it either.

"I'm going to have serious words with that boy", Jon's hands had balled into tight fists at his sides, and Clary actually began to fear for Jace's safety, she knew that Jon could easily inflict a lot of damage if he wanted to. Luckily Sebastien was there to calm him down before he tracked Jace down to have 'a word' with him.

"Calm down bro, Jace isn't an idiot and Clary can take care of herself", she silently smiled her thanks to him and thankfully Jon dropped the subject for now.

"So, are you two looking forward to the trials?" Clary jogged to catch up as Jon carried on walking, not waiting to see if they were following. At the mention of the trials she saw Seb visibly stiffen next to her, his whole body lit up with tension and his jaw clenched.

"Absolutely, I mean I am obviously going to win, so to be honest I have no idea why they're even bothering. But I guess it's nice to let people have a small glimmer of hope before it is mercilessly taken away from them." Jon smirked, oblivious to the raging war being carried out in his brother's head.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own nothing :)**

Clary drowned out Jon's consistent moaning in the background and focused of the expression on Sebastien's face. He was usually a closed off person, never revealing any emotion and never giving anything away. But recently his walls had started to crumble down and she wasn't the only one who had noticed it. She stole this opportunity to really study him; he wasn't paying her any attention and seemed to be glaring intensely at something in the distance. He wore his signature frown and his shoulders were hunched and his jaw set, his hands were subconsciously clenching and unclenching at his sides. Everything in his body screamed anxious, but for what, she didn't know. But what was so unusual was the emotion in his eyes; it was one of pure and unadulterated fear. His gaze was so intense that she had to look away. What could possibly be so bad that he looked like that, he looked broken, like he held the weight of all the world's problems on his shoulders, like his soul had been mercilessly torn apart.

Clary sat in her room, her sketch book balanced on her knees and her hair pulled up into a messy bun at the nap of her neck. She looked out of her window at the streets below, people going about their daily business unaware of anyone else. She was pulled out of her trance by a knock at her door, she flipped over the picture she'd had been drawing and got up. There standing at her door was Sebastien. Under the lighting she could see heavy black bags under his eyes and she wondered how she could have missed this change in him. He looked up at her and she saw small tear tracks down his face. Now she was scared, never in all her life had she seen him cry, not when he fractured his collar bone trying to prove himself to Valentine, not when mum was shot, not when Jon broke down, never. Something was seriously wrong and it broke her heart to see him like this. He silently walked into her room and lay down on her bed, his back pressed up against the head board and his eyes closed, like if he opened them; the dam would break and everything he had been keeping shut inside would come spilling out. She carefully situated herself next to him, mimicking his position. They lay in silence for a few seconds until he broke the air.

"Do you believe in fate?" she looked over at him and saw that his eyes were still closed looking up at the ceiling.

"I think for fate to exist there must be someone to initiate it."

"You mean a God?" he had turned to look at her now with his eyes open in question. Religion was not something that existed down here, the word GOD was rarely mentioned as it had died out with countless numbers of other things.

Clary shrugged her shoulders and twisted her head around to meet his stare, "Yeh I guess so. To be honest I'm not sure I believe in God, it's a nice thought; to think that there is someone watching over you, someone who cares. But if there really is a God out there, how could they let all of this happen. To let so many innocent people die every day if they had the power to put an end to all of it." She went back to looking at the ceiling and they fell into a deep silence again.

"Freedom" he said after a long time.

"What?" She frowned in confusion.

"Freedom, the answer to your question. God doesn't control every move we make because that would be taking away our born rights, taking away our freedom."

"Does this mean you believe in God?"

He contemplated it for a moment before answering, "I suppose I do." He turned to look at her, "What about you? Do you believe there is a life after this one?"

She closed her eyes and sighed in thought, "I really wish I did. Perhaps that would make everything so much easier."

Before she could continue the door flew open revealing a very pissed looking Isabelle, Her nostrils were flared and she breathed heavily as if she had been running, one hand clung onto the door frame and the other hung at her side. Sebastien took this as his cue to leave, kissing her forehead on his way out. Yeh something was definitely up with him. As soon as Seb closed the door, Izzy flung herself on Clary's bed, effectively pushing her off in the bed.

"Can I help you?" Clary said from her position on the floor

"Yes"

"Care to elaborate" she rolled her eyes as she climbed back onto the bed.

"I'm mad"

"Yeh, I'm going to need a little bit more to go on than that Izzy."

"Your brother has yet to ask me out", she said bluntly.

"Err, which one?"

Izzy gave her a diminishing look, "Jon, you idiot. You know the tall, sexy, hot piece of as-"

Clary clamped her hand over her best friend's mouth, "Please don't finish that sentence"

she slowly removed her hand giving her a look of warning.

"As I was saying, why has he not asked me out? We've kissed multiple times, hell we even had se-" Clary slapped her hands over her ears.

"Izzy please, there is only so much my stomach can take." She removed her hands and finally gave her friend her full attention.

"Maybe he is just scared"

"Scared?" Izzy frowned in confusion.

"Yeh, I mean Jon's never actually been in a real relationship before. This is just as new to him as it is to you."

She seemed to ponder this for a moment before smiling brightly and bouncing on the bed. "Your right" she proclaimed with enthusiasm that was very unlike her, "he's probably just waiting to ask me before the dance". Oh crap, she had completely forgotten about the dance that was held before the EARTH trials. All the schools went and it along with the actual games were being held at their school. The chosen ten students from each school would lead the dance along with their partners, the selected few became extremely popular in the days leading up to the dance. Everyone wanted to be the centre of attention and it looked like Izzy was no exception.

"Urr, yeh, I'm sure that's it"

"So what are you wearing to the dance" Izzy looked up at her with a very serious expression on her face, to which Clary just raised her eyebrows.

"Iz I don't even know who I'm going with let alone what I'm going to wear."

"Well a little birdy told me that Raphael has been thinking of asking you out for a while." She just shrugged her shoulders, to be honest Raphael kinda creped her out a little bit, sure he was cute but the fact that he always smirked and started muttering to himself in Spanish every time he saw her was a bit weird.

"I was going to ask Will" Izzy gave her a dumbfounded look, "What, he's hot".

"Are you insane, you can't ask him, he has to ask you!" Izzy flapped her hands around in distress.

"Ok Izzy calm down it was just a suggestion. Simon and I were actually just thinking of going together as friends."

Izzy just looked at her with her mouth hanging wide open, a rarity for Izzy.

"Just…just…fr…friends. Clarissa Adele Morgenstern! You will not go to our first real dance with JUST A FRIEND! I, I can't even look at you right now. Lightwood out" and with that she stormed out the room slamming the door for good measure.

Clary smiled to herself at Izzy, it was nice to have something so solid and right in your life, something that never changed. She lay her head back down on the bed and thought about everything and nothing. What Sebastien had said had really stuck in her mind, since when did he get so philosophical. Something had to have scared him into opening up to her. He never laid his emotions so clearly on display like that. And for the millionth time she wondered what it was that could have made the wall surrounding her brother for so long break down. Because it must have been something colossal to wound him so severely, something so soul shattering,

**Thanks for reading, let me know what you think, what your favourite line was, or anything else. Would you like me to continue frequently with these short chapters or longer less frequent ones? **

**:) **


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing :)

Chapter 4: From Eden

Something was wrong. The atmosphere surrounding the school was tense and on edge. The normal loud and cluttered hall ways were virtually empty, students deciding to seek refuge in their classrooms instead . Even the teachers were silent in their teaching, and it was creeping Clary out. Every one of her nerves was on high alert waiting for something to happen, and when it did no one was prepared for the severity of the situation. It was about 1:15 when the sirens sounded, signalling that all students and staff had to report to the grand hall. The siren was only sounded when there was a state of emergency and Clary had never heard it in the five years she had been attending School 01110000. The all filed silently into the hall filling up the empty seats. Clary looked for her brothers over the bobbing mass of heads and soon spotted Jon's white head in the crowd making eye contact with him. She mouthed _what's going on? _He simply shrugged his shoulders in response, ever the helpful the brother. She saw Simon and Izzy walking over both taking a seat on either side of me, Simon put his hand in mine and gave me a small smile.

Clary looked up to the stage at the front of the hall, there was a huge screen dominating most the space emitting a soft green glow and letting of a quiet buzzing noise, two men dressed in suits of to the side. Her forehead started to break out in a cold sweat, her hands clammy and twitching nervously. Like everyone else in the hall she was anxious to see what was about to happen. Suddenly the screen flicked to life, a face appearing on the previously blank canvas. It was a face that haunted many nightmares, it was face that promoted fear; it was the face of her father. She froze momentarily; Simon must have felt it because he gently squeezed her hand. In that moment it was if everyone in the country was holding their breath waiting for something to happen.

Valentine Morgenstern wore a crisp black suit and tie, his white hair slicked back on his scalp, his black eyes piercing through the souls of those watching. Frown lines were etched into his once youthful and handsome face. His mouth set in a hard line until it opened to speak the words that everyone was waiting to hear.

"As you all know, the surface of our planet was deemed 'unliveable', a state it was put in by the human race. We fought war after war after war, and for what? A little bit more land on a planet that is tormented by disease and plague. But despite the odds we survived, because that is the only thing we know how to do, survive. It is wired into our every move, survival. And because of that drive to live we are today. Now one hundred years later things have changed. We no longer depend on the earth to survive because we are stronger, braver fiercer and tougher. And as he grew stronger so did mother Earth." He paused as if he was contemplating what he was about to say. Clary could almost see the gears turning in her father's head, questioning what to do next. His jaw set as he appeared to make a decision. "Our teams of biologists have deemed the Earth no longer terminal. It appears the radioactivity no longer plagues the ground and the diseases long gone. Myself along with the other standing members of your government have decided that an expedition will be launched to venture out to the Earth's surface and report back on its condition. It will be dangerous and the journey shall be a long one. Twenty of you aged sixteen to twenty will be hand chosen to take this trip." This finally broke the damn of silence that had befallen the school for so long, students cried out shouts of accusation whilst same whooped with excitement bickering amongst themselves about who would be picked. The booming voice of Valentine started to talk over the chatting students "Sometimes we have to do things that we don't want because the alternative is to scary to think about, sometimes we do them because we are forced to and sometimes we do it out of the love we feel for another. This is not one of those times. I stand here before you today to do this not for yourselves or for your friends or family but for your country. Because in this time of need your country needs you now more than ever. I ask you to be brave, to be courageous and to do your Nation proud."

No sooner had it begun it had ended, the screen went black and the constant chattering started again, the school returned back to normal. Clary stood up ready to leave with the rest of her class trying to quickly catch Jon's attention again before she left. She spotted him in the same place as before but this time he seemed to be frozen in place. His eyes were fixed on something across the room. She felt her heart begin to race as she slowly swivelled her body around to see what had caused him such shock, and she was afraid at what she would see. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight in front of her. There in the middle of the hall was Sebastien; his body was folded in upon itself both hands were thrust into his black hair gripping the hairs so tightly that his knuckles had gone blue and she was surprised he hadn't pulled any strands out. She marvelled at the contrast between the white of his hands and the darkness of his hair before she quickly snapped out of her dream and rushed towards him, kneeling down beside his shaking body. His body was rocking back and forth, and his hands were shaking violently. She noticed that he was mumbling profanities to himself saying the same thing over and over again, "God help us, God help us, God help them". She looked up at Jon for help and saw that he was still frozen in place, his normally happy face drained of all emotion and colour, his lips tinged with blue. He looked like he was about to be sick, or pass out, or both.

She put her hand of Sebastien's back and tried to calm her brother down by saying soothing words of encouragement. But nothing was waking him out of the nightmare he was trapped in.

Leave a review :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for such a short chapter and not updating for ages, I don't know if anyone is actually reading this story but if you are let me know and I shall carry on writing. This is written in the point of view of Clary so let me know if that's good, better or worse. Thanks :)**

She put her hand of Sebastien's back and tried to calm her brother down by saying soothing words of encouragement. But nothing was waking him out of the nightmare he was trapped in. ...

We stayed like that for some time. Me trying to coax him out of the paralytic state he was in and Jon standing there over us, his mouth partially open as if he wanted to say something. At some point I think tears started slowly making their way down my face, and yet still Sebastien continued to rock back and forth. After what seemed like eternity but in reality was probably only five minutes, he stopped rocking and his hands left his hair and shakily travelled down to his lap where they hung limply. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath; I noticed that his eye lids were abnormally purple. Jon and I waited patiently for some kind of explanation, but none came. Instead he simply stood up and wobbled on his feet slightly before stumbling away, stuttering out an "I'm going out". And just like that he was gone and it was over. I looked up at Jon hoping that he could give me some insight into what his twin was feeling, but he looked more shocked than me. I walked over to him and placed my hand firmly on his shoulder trying to shake him out of his thoughts. He shook his head and scrunched his eyes shut. But when he looked back at me his eyes were no longer glazed over and my brother was back. He didn't offer any words because neither of us had any, he simply pulled me into a hug before we walked out of the hall and back to our normal lessons, back to reality.

According to our teachers the EARTH TRIALS had been moved forward to two weeks' time, the dance moved with it. But the thing that made my heart beat just that little bit further was that the contestants would be announced later on that day. That day! I couldn't believe that the day I had waited so long for was finally here. The rest of the day was a blur, I kept glancing at the clock waiting for the time when we would be asked to gather in the great hall. Which is how, two hours later I found myself in the over decorated hall for the second time that day. We waited anxiously for the names to be called, the list that would decide our future, although at that time we didn't know just how much.

"Well, well, well. The Princess has returned." I whipped my head around too find an annoyingly perfected smirk, located on an even more annoying obnoxious blond.

"If that's what you're going by now then sure, whatever floats your boat I guess" I returned with my own all knowing smile.

"I was referring to you actually" he frowned.

"Whatever princess" I winked. He grunted in response focusing back on the stage where our head would soon come out to announce the results.

I started shifting from foot to foot in nervousness until I felt a warm hand slip into mine and turned around to see Simon's face staring back at me an encouraging smile on his lips. But I knew the smile was just a front and he was actually just as nervous as me. It wasn't only sports involved in the competition but all academic studies; you had to excel through all disciplines. We held our breath as the head made his way onto the stage, a single sheet of paper in his hand. He adjusted his glasses on his nose and cleared his throat.

"In no particular order…" I tuned out all the names being read of the list, my ears attuned to one word and one word only, Clary. I vaguely comprehend that Seb and Jon have both been called and have taken their places on the stage along with both Izzy and Simon. I feel my heart drop as I know the list must be coming to an end and I stop focusing on the names being read out and instead stare at a simple crack in the floor, willing myself not to cry. And as the last name is called I finally I feel like I won't be able to hold them back any longer because the last name called is mine, Clarissa, and I want to cry with joy. I walk up to the stage probably looking like an idiot with the biggest smile on my face, but I don't care. I feel someone poke me in the arm and I furrow my eyebrows at the assailant. And guess who it is, Jace. Whoopydoo.

"I am going to whoop your ass ginger" he says.

"How did you even get in? Contestants are meant to be smart. Like really smart" I raise my eyebrows at him.

"Hey not all blonds are idiots you know!"

"No just certain ones" I say under my breath. It's going to be a long two weeks.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thankyou to those he followed or reviewed, let me know what you think or if you have any questions ;)**

_"__Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them"_

His feet pounded upon the muddy ground beneath him, kicking up the earth and spraying it in all directions. Sweat glistened on his forehead and rolled down his back, and he kept running. His heart rate increased and his breathing became rabid, and he kept running. Images clouded his thoughts and his fist clenched at his sides, and still he ran. He ran until the images were gone and all that was left was the pain in his legs and the pain in his heart. So kept running. Relishing the newfound pain in his muscles that was slowly quelling the ache in his heart. He ran till his body couldn't take it anymore. He crashed to the floor heaving in breath after breath, he coughed as the foul air reached his lungs and his eyes clenched shut as the onslaught on images came again as the pain in his legs slowly diminished.

He slowly regained composition of himself and sat up against the moss covered wall of earth. He had run into one of the many tunnels making up an underground maze under the city. Some were just used as sewers and drains, but others were home to thieves, gangs and murders. He knew he was right and royally screwed now and starting to regret blinding running into this disaster. He ran his hands through his sweaty locks highlighting it with streaks of mud and dirty water. He had no idea which way he'd come from and was exhausted from running the whole way. Great, he was going to die here, in a filthy alley surrounded by rats and waste. He sighed. Maybe death wouldn't be so bad, it sounded almost welcoming in that moment. Oh who was he kidding, death sounded boring. He slowly stood up, wincing as he legs almost buckled underneath him. He hugged the wall to his left and started trudging along until he found the exit some hours later.

The radio blared out the latest news which usually consisted of a list all the daily deaths. Spouting them of as if he was simply reporting the weather. A child in the coal sector, a young teenager in the ruby sector and a young couple in the pearl sector. The Pearl sector? That wasn't far from where Clary lived. The families there weren't especially well of, but they weren't drowned in poverty like many of the other sectors either. She finished her breakfast and started jogging in the direction of her school. It had been a week since the contestants for the EARTH games had been announced and like everyone else she had been training all week. She adjusted the strap of the bag on her bag, which contained a change of clothes, her books and about 10 kg of weights. She made it to her school gates no long after ten minutes and ran straight to the gym where she said she would meet Simon and Izzy for an early workout.

She heard the both of them before she saw them. Izzy was standing with her hands on her hips looking unimpressed as Simon sat sprawled on the floor.

"Come on Simon, I told you just one more press up, don't be such a baby".

"And I told you that I have asthma!"

I walked up to them and stood beside Isabel raising my eyebrows at the blubbering mess on the floor before me.

"How many has he done?" I turned to Izzy.

"Five" she snorted.

Simon finally sat up a look of betrayal on his face, "You say it like it's not a lot! Press ups take a great deal of work I'll have you know! I mean look at these arms" he waved his arms around wildly.

"Yeh I've seen hamsters with bigger biceps than that" Izzy replied.

"Hamsters are extinct Izzy so you can't possibly have seen one" he folded he arms over his chest and pouted, looking very much like an upset child.

Izzy threw her arms up in the air in defeat, "Simon, you are not going to win this competition on brains alone!"

"Well then you should be glad that you have more of a chance of winning."

Clary rolled her eyes at him and turned to Izzy instead a small smile on her face, "You wanna spar?" Izzy groaned but nodded in response.

"What about me?" Simon asked from the floor, Izzy pointed to a metal bar not far away, "pull ups" she smiled sinisterly. Simon let out a noise somewhere between a moan and a sneeze, but dragged himself to the bar and proceeded to stare at it whilst making small whining noises.

Izzy and Clary walked over the mats and started circling each other.

"So has Jon asked you to the dance yet" Izzy lunged forward as Clary sidestepped out of the way.

"Nope, I asked him"

"And he said…?"Clary threw a punch aiming for the neck, but her wrist was caught mid-way, and Izzy raised an eyebrow at her as if to say 'serious question?'

"He said yes. I mean who could resist this" she pointed to her body with her free hand whilst the one that was holding Clary's wrist twisted bringing her hand up behind her back in a painful position. Her leg hooked around her ankle, but before she could bring her down Clary slammed her head back into Izzy's nose. Izzy let go immediately her hand going to her nose which now had a steady stream of crimson coming out of it.

"Shit Clary, that bloody hurt", Clary bit her lip and muttered out an apology. Izzy wiped her nose with her t-shirt and threw herself at Clary, knocking the wind out of her as she fell to the ground and catching her completely off guard. Izzy flipped her onto her front and straddled her back pinning her arms down as Clary spluttered and coughed trying to get her breath back. Izzy threw her arms up in triumph, "haha, victory!"

"Can't…breath…" Clary gasped for air.

"Oh right sorry" Izzy climbed of and help her up, where she continued to gulp down breaths of air as Izzy patted her on the back.

"You alright?" she asked. Clary gave her thumbs up in response. Simon walked over to them looking faintly ill, "Are we done, can we go?"

"Yep, I'm just gonna change" Izzy said as she walked over to the changing rooms pulling of her ruined t-shirt in the process leaving her in a sports bra which caused Simon's eyes to pop out of his head and his whole face started to resemble a tomato. She chuckled at him and followed Izzy to go get changed.

Clary walked out of yet another boring chemistry class and smacked into a very hard, very firm chest. She put her hands out to brace herself, dropping all her books in the process; she could feel the defined muscle of said person's most probably sick pack through the thin material of their t-shirt. She looked up to come face to face with smouldering deep blue eyes. They both dropped down to the floor in their haste to pick up the fallen books, banging heads, she quickly grabbed her books and apologised profoundly to the poor boy.

"Crap, I'm so sorry William I wasn't looking where I was going" he shook his head and a smile lit up his face.

"Don't worry about it shortcake it was my fault, my devastatingly good looks are constantly causing girls to fall at my feet. And please call me Will, William makes me sound old." His nose scrunched up in an adorable way.

"Well feel free to call me Clary because shortcake makes me feel short, not that I'm not, short I mean" she started to ramble and she could feel her cheeks burning up. Will simply smiled as she blushed, "Well _Clary _I was wondering if you were going with someone to the dance next week."

"Err, no, nope, no one's asked" she stuttered.

"Well Clary, wait hold on a sec" he got down on one knee and held her hand in his own, "Clarissa Morgenstern would you do me the honour of accompanying me to thy magnificent ball as my date?" he asked wistfully.

Clary was aware that the whole of the student body was probably watching the pairs exchange, she pretended to think about his offer "hmm, that's a tricky one" he raised his eyebrows at her and she laughed "I'd love to go with you Will". He smiled and jumped to his feet picking her up and spinning her around as she continued to laugh. He finally put her down the smile still etched into his face, "So is it alright if I pick you up at like seven?

"Sounds great, but I'm expecting the full works Herondale" she said in mock warning.

"Don't you fret young miss, for I am a gentleman" he brought her hand up to his lips and gave it a small kiss a huge grin on his face. Neither of the young couple noticed a pair of golden eyes staring at them with his jaw clenched and his hands fisted into his sides.


	8. Chapter 8

_Sorry for the very short chapter, the next one will be a lot longer _

_Disclaimer: The poem is written and owned by Maya Angelou and the riddle is one form of the riddle of the sphinx written by a play wright Sophocles. The characters are all owned by Cassandra Clare. _

_On a bright day next week_

_Just before the bomb falls _

_Just before the world ends _

_Just before I die _

_All my tears will powder _

_Black in dust like ashes _

_Black like Buddha's belly_

_Black and hot and dry _

_Then will mercy tumble _

_Falling down in godheads_

_Falling on the children _

_Falling from the sky _

_~ On a bright day, next week by Maya Angelou_

For the first time in her life Clary feared what the day would bring. It was a funny thing, fear. It was an emotion that had the power to entrap and enthral countless civilisations. It was something she had seen her father inflict upon the minds and souls of those who he deemed fit. And yet she had never explicitly felt it herself, sure she had been scared in the younger years of her life, in the same way any five year old is afraid of what lurks beneath their bed. But she had never felt fear, never tasted the sweat stench of sweat or seen the alarmed eyes ablaze with fear, never seen the life literally drown out of someone and seep into the ground beneath their feet. But as Clary looked around at the wreckage that was their supposed safe heaven she saw just that and so much more, she felt and saw and tasted the almost tangible fear around her. She saw the future for a world which had none, she saw the past of a world in flames and as she stood there in the present she witnessed a world that would be her home for what was looking to be a very short lifetime.

-one week previously-

Clary walked to school alongside her brothers, the trio gave of an air of confidence and to the untrained eye they seemed completely cool and collected they walked swiftly and gracefully up the school steps in a way that could only come with years of practise. Three pairs of eyes appeared to be fixated on one common goal, the banner above the school that advertised that days competition served as a reminder to not only the siblings but the entire school body, a reminder of what was at stake. Clary was interrupted out of her train of thought by a hand landing on her shoulder; she schooled her features into a practised scowl and turned to the accuser ready to tell him where he could go stick said hand. But as she turned she was met with the kind brown eyes of Simon, she let her face relax into a smile and leaned back on her locker.

Simons hand dropped from her shoulder as she leant back and with his now free hand he pushed the middle of his glasses back into place, "So how are you feeling?" he asked curiously. She bit her lip and looked around seeing the majority of people running around excitedly speaking animatedly with their friends, "I'm not entirely sure how to feel, excited or nervous, or a bit of both I guess." He sighed and passed a hand tiredly down his face only serving to knock his glasses off completely, "well that makes one of us, I'm just downright terrified. I mean I don't even understand why I was picked? Yeah I'm smart, but athletic? I don't stand a chance of winning, I'll just be glad when all of this" he gestured to the surrounding halls "is over and I can go home and sleep" he said as he picked up his fallen glasses. Clary simply snorted and started walking towards the hall where the contestants would be sorted into groups to begin the first phase of the trails.

During the first phase the forty contestants were divided into ten teams of four. Within each team there was one member of each respected school house, giving them a wide range of abilities. Only five teams would make it to the second round, eliminating half the contestants by day one. Around the walls of the hall there were the numbers from one to ten, she was handed the number two and told to go and stand by her number. She sat down with her back to the wall and closed her eyes, she was utterly exhausted both mentally and physically. She hadn't noticed just how much of a toll the constant practising had had on her body and mind up until now. Her eyes fluttered open as she felt someone sit down next to her. She was only mildly annoyed to see Jace smiling down at her as he held up a number two in explanation. She shook her head and let out a long exasperated breath in response, surprised that he didn't make any sarcastic comment as to how they had been teamed up together, or how lucky she was to be teamed with his oh so wonderful self. She ended up in a team that consisted of her, Jace, Maia and a lanky looking kid with freckles and a round face called Chris.

They waited around for about thirty minutes talking amongst themselves before their headmaster came into view to announce the day's events. She got on well enough with those in her group, although the same could not be said for Jace and Maia who seemed to either be glaring or arguing with each other. Chris appeared to be a very quiet guy who looked at clary with a mild sense of hostility, but seemed perfectly fine with Maia and Jace, she frowned, wondering what she had done in the past to offend him. After about another twenty minutes of their head teacher droning on about the risks and cautions that should be taken they were told information about what the first phase would entail, or lack of information. They were simply told they would be given an envelope and had to find some sort of key, the first five teams to complete the trial would go through to phase two.

Jace went up to collect their envelop, bringing it back to the huddled group before opening it. Inside were the words _"A thing there is whose voice is one; whose feet are four and two and three. So mutable a thing is none, that moves in earth or sky or sea. When on most feet this thing doth go, its strength is weakest and its pace most slow."_ Let the 100th annual EARTH trials begin.


End file.
